Thales Data Threat Report 2018: 93% of Indian respondents plan on increasing IT security spending this year

Government’s steps toward ensuring transparency under the ‘Aadhaar programme’ have resulted in an increase in IT security spending by Indian organisations.

New Delhi, 24 July, 2018: Thales, a leader in critical information systems, cybersecurity and data security, announces the findings of its 2018 Thales Data Threat Report, India edition, issued in conjunction with analyst firm 451 Research. The report finds that a striking 93% of Indian respondents plan on increasing IT security spending this year, the highest among all countries surveyed and well above the global average (78%).

This year’s findings demonstrate a mix of good and bad news for Indian organisations in adopting security strategies to prevent the breach of sensitive data at their workplaces.

According to the report, digital transformation across the globe has led to the growth of new business models that are focused on driving growth and profitability for organisations including cloud, IoT, big data and blockchain. Indians recognise encryption with Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) capabilities as the top security tool for securing sensitive data in cloud environments and continue to spend their resources on the same technology.

The report also states that the government’s steps toward ensuring transparency under the ‘Aadhaar programme’ have resulted in an increase in IT security spending by Indian organisations. At the same time, reports of successful data breaches in India are second only to Sweden among all geographical and vertical markets.

Key findings:

> In India, the top choice for satisfying data privacy laws is encryption (30% vs. 42% globally, where it is also the top choice), followed by tokenization (25% vs. 20% globally) .

> Around 52% of Indian respondents reported a data breach last year, way above the global average (36%). Further, a full three quarters (75%) of respondents in India reported being breached at some time in the past, compared with just 67% globally.

> 62% of Indian respondents report feeling ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ vulnerable to attacks on sensitive data (37% ‘extremely’ vulnerable), well ahead of the global average (44%).

> Indian organisations are apparently not spending their valuable IT security funds in the right places.

> 91% list analysis and correlation as the most effective weapons to stop data breaches followed closely by data-in-motion/data-at-rest defenses at 90% each.

> Endpoint/mobile defenses are ranked least effective (81%)

> Yet endpoint/mobile defenses are ranked at the top in terms of spending plans (81%), with data-at-rest at the bottom (54%).

> 85% of Indian respondents say compliance is either ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ effective at stopping breaches, again way ahead of the global average (64%).

> Indian respondents are relatively unconcerned about storing sensitive data in cloud environments, with 92% of Indian respondents reporting that their organisations store sensitive data in some form of public cloud (either IaaS, PaaS or SaaS), well ahead of the global average of 74%.

> Concerns about performance impacts and business processes are the top barriers cited in India to IT security, followed by perceptions of complexity (48%) and perceived need (37%).

The data in the report is based on detailed inputs from over 100 senior IT security managers in India – all part of the Thales 2018 Global Data Threat Report, which polled 1,200 IT security managers in eight countries and across four major vertical markets.

“The world today revolves around technology and more and more organisations are reshaping the way they do business with digital transformation. As the world becomes more connected, it also becomes more vulnerable. Cybersecurity has become an indispensable part of our digital technologies. At Thales, we have been helping our customers to think smarter and act faster during the complexities that arise each day and mitigate the challenges successfully,” said Emmanuel de Roquefeuil, VP & Country Director, Thales in India.

“The report reveals data about increasing cyber threats in India and is a call to action for organisations to strengthen their security posture and take steps towards protecting their data. We’re now at the point where we have to admit that data breaches are the new reality with over half of organizations in India suffering a breach in the last year. In this increasingly data-driven world it is therefore hugely important that organizations take steps to protect that data wherever it is created, shared or stored. Thales provides everything an organization needs to protect and manage its data, identities and intellectual property, and meet regulatory compliance – through encryption, advanced key management, tokenization, privileged-user control and high-assurance solutions,” said James Cook, Sales Director South Asia, Thales eSecurity.

About Thales in India

Present in India since 1953, Thales is headquartered in New Delhi and has other operational offices and sites spread across Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai, among others. Over 600 employees are working with Thales and its joint ventures in India. Since the beginning, Thales has been playing an essential role in India’s growth story by sharing its technologies and expertise in Defence, Transport and Aerospace markets. Thales provides data security solutions and services to leading organizations across sectors in India.

About Thales eSecurity

Thales eSecurity is a leader in advanced data security solutions and services that deliver trust wherever information is created, shared or stored. We ensure that the data belonging to companies and government entities is both secure and trusted in any environment – on-premises, in the cloud, in data centers or big data environments – without sacrificing business agility. Security doesn’t just reduce risk, it’s an enabler of the digital initiatives that now permeate our daily lives – digital money, e-identities, healthcare, connected cars and, with the internet of things (IoT), even household devices. Thales provides everything an organization needs to protect and manage its data, identities and intellectual property, and meet regulatory compliance – through encryption, advanced key management, tokenization, privileged-user control and high-assurance solutions. Security professionals around the globe rely on Thales to confidently accelerate their organization’s digital transformation. Thales eSecurity is part of Thales Group.

Brian Pereira is an Indian journalist based in Mumbai. He has 25 years of technology journalism experience, and he's well known in the Indian IT industry. He is the former Editor of CHIP and InformationWeek magazines in India and has written technology articles for India's leading newspapers groups such as The Times of India and Indian Express Newspapers. Brian also writes on Aviation, startups and covers topics directed at small and medium businesses.
He also has event experience and once put together the conference program for CeBIT and INTEROP events in India.
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